Breakout
'Breakout' is the premiere episode of the first season of Transformers: Ascension. It was uploaded to YouTube on April 9th. Plot Summary The Garrus-9 super-max prison, home to some of the deadliest Decepticons in the galaxy, is assaulted by a determined Black Shadow on a mission to liberate their leader. Closer to home, Treadshot and Grace's peaceful life is shattered by an unknown ailment affecting Treadshot. Synopsis Earth - two years after the events of Broken Mirror, Treadshot (a.k.a. Nathan Taylor) and Grace Allen live together happily in their home in California, the threat of the evil Autobot invasion long gone. Grace now works as a journalist and is preparing to leave for Egypt for a week, while Treadshot is stretching his creative muscles after a few million years and has started writing. All seems well, except for Treadshot experiencing mysterious chest pains which, despite Grace's concern, he disregards as cramps. Elsewhere in the galaxy, on the planet Elba, Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers lead the defense of the Autobot maximum-security penitentiary Garrus-9 from a Decepticon assault. Within the compound, the mercenary Lockdown infiltrates the security room and takes down the guards, where he can guide his employer Black Shadow through the nine prison levels. Lockdown debriefs Black Shadow on the prison's architecture, commenting on Shadow's dismissive comments and reminding him that he's only helping the Decepticon because of his 'impossibly good' pay. Arriving on Level 1, Black Shadow begins battling the Autotrooper guards awaiting him. Tread and Grace are stargazing on the final night before the latter departs, and Tread points out Cybertron's rough position in the starscape and asks for Grace's thoughts on his writing. While she reassures him not to be so harsh on himself, the pains strike again, causing Treadshot to scream out in agony. By now, Black Shadow has arrived on Level 6, and is almost immediately assaulted by cerebro-lances, an invention of Ironfist's that hone in on conscious electrical brain module signals. Lockdown searches through the G-9 databanks to find any information on what they are, before ordering Black Shadow to stop thinking, saving him from being skewered between the optics. Back on Earth, Tread and Grace have retreated inside following Treadshot's episode. Tread stubbornly states he's fine, but Grace will have none of it. They decide that if she heads off to Egypt tomorrow, Tread has to get in contact with the Autobots and see if the pains are connected to his Pretender tech. Arriving on Level 9, Black Shadow is faced with The Warden, who declines his offer to surrender and proceeds to fight him. After a brief skirmish, Shadow shoots out The Warden's tires in vehicle mode and electrocutes him against a cell energy barrier. With all obstacles removed, Black Shadow heads over to Megatron's cell and deactivates the barrier. Tread and Grace are asleep on the couch together when Tread is struck by the worst pain so far. Grace alerts the Autobots with the communicator Optimus left her, and she brings Tread outside as Prime, Kup and Red Alert arrive outside via space bridge. They discover Treadshot has gone into cardiac arrest, and Optimus orders him taken to the Ark and for 'Project Transtector' to be prepared. Black Shadow produces a glowing red shard from his chest, offering it to Megatron. As the shard merges with the Decepticon leader, his body morphs into one much more powerful, and Megatron proclaims he feels 'like a god'. He executes the Warden as Black Shadow frees some of the other Threat Level 9 inmates including Deadlock. Megatron stops as he passes Starscream's cell, his right hand bot demanding to be released. Citing Starscream's treacherous history, Megatron abandons the Seeker, revealing Black Shadow as his new lieutenant. The Decepticons (also joined by Drag Strip, Wildrider and Heist) return to Shadow's ship, the Obsidian, but Lockdown stops Black Shadow on the boarding ramp, demanding the shard as payment. Shadow kills Lockdown, saying he has altered the deal, and joins Megatron in the ship where he is met by an army of Eradicons. As Garrus-9 is destroyed and the Obsidian sets course for Earth, Megatron declares: "Optimus Prime. I'm coming for you." Featured Characters Notes Continuity notes * Treadshot and Grace still live in the same house in California with, as Treadshot suggested at the end of Broken Mirror, a new car. * The last time we saw Garrus-9 and Megatron was in the post credits scene in the full version of Transformers: Broken Mirror. There just wasn't a massive Decepticon invasion going on. * Grace mentions the Perseid meteor shower is meant to reach its peak that night, which places this episode around mid-August. * The Ark is still in Earth orbit protecting humankind from Decepticons. Transformers references * Nathan and Grace's new car is ROTF Jolt. * Garrus-9 is of course based on the high security Autobot prison on Elba from IDW. * Black Shadow implies Level 8 of G-9 is protected by Scraplets. * Megatron's cold execution of The Warden is a callback to Ironhide's death in The Transformers: The Movie, including his line 'such heroic nonsense'. * The cerebro-lances are inspired by the cerebro-sensitive bullets invented by Ironfist in IDW. * The Warden is an homage to IDW Fortress Maximus being, well, the warden of Garrus-9. * The Ark is identified as a Vanguard-''class starship like its G1 namesake. * The ''Obsidian used the same design as the Nemesis from G1, and is identified as a Worldburner-''class starship. Real-world references * Nathan name-drops J.R.R. Tolkien and Harper Lee in his list of great authors. * Grace references Lifetime, a US TV network. * Black Shadow says 'I have altered the deal...' after backstabbing Lockdown, paraphrasing Darth Vader in ''The Empire Strikes Back. Trivia * The information Lockdown is reading when Black Shadow is under attack from cerebro-lances is the tfwiki bio for Erector copied out several times in Modern Cybertronic. * I'm not kidding. Category:Transformers: Ascension Episodes